Summary

Editor’s note: If you’re interested in cancer-killing foods, see why pomegranate may be a great choice to add to your diet.

One of the most important discoveries in biology and medicine of the past fifteen years is that cancer stem cells are largely responsible for the failure of conventional cancer treatment.

These cells, which represent a small population of tumor cells (~ 1:1000), are cancer cells characterized by stem cell properties such as self-renewal and the ability to give rise to all cell types found in a particular cancer sample.

These cells drive tumor development, progression, metastasis and drug resistance and are highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. To the contrary, these conventional treatments actually increasetheir number and malignancy.1,2

You can learn more about this critically important topic by watching my video below:

The Key To Curing Cancer: Cancer Stem Cells

The discovery of cancer stem cells at the heart of cancer malignancy reveals that the present-day standard of care in oncology is doing far more harm than good. It also indicates a desperate need for safer, more effective alternatives that exhibit selective cytoxicity, i.e. the ability to kill only cancer and cancer stem cells while leaving unharmed non-cancerous tissue.

Given that the cancer stem cell populations are the primary cause of treatment resistance and malignancy, any new research that sheds light on this topic has powerful implications for those who wish to use their food as medicine.

Pomegranate Confirmed To Be A Cancer Stem Cell Killer

Two recent studies have looked at the effects of a pomegranate extract on cancer stem cells.

The researchers looked at how colon metabolites of polyphenols from pomegranate interact with and affect CSCs. Specifically, the researchers looked at:

“the effects against colon CSCs of two mixtures of ellagitannin (ET) metabolites, ellagic acid (EA) and the gut microbiota-derived urolithins (Uro) at concentrations detected in the human colon tissues following the intake of ET-containing products (pomegranate, walnuts).” [emphasis added]

The researchers confirmed that these mixtures were able to suppress colon CSCs taken from the primary tumor of a patient with colorectal cancer. They showed these mixtures altered the phenotypic and molecular features of colonospheres — the cancer stem cell based micro-colonies of cells that can become invasive and lethal cancers with time — consistent with cancer suppression.

According to the study authors,

“These data support a role for polyphenols metabolites in the control of colon cancer chemoresistance and relapse and encourage the research on the effects of polyphenols against CSCs.”

Additionally, the researchers found that pomegranate extract was able to promote breast cancer stem cells differentiation (an indication of its chemopreventive properties), as well as preventing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key program in generating CSCs and maintaining their characteristics.

The researchers concluded from these findings that,

“The ability of PE to suppress CSCs can be exploited in the prevention of breast cancer.”

It is my belief that as research like this accumulates, the medical community will be lead to embrace plant-based alternatives to chemotherapy in favor of what I would call biochemotherapies, whose mechanisms of action areinformational as well as physical in nature.

As I have discussed elsewhere, it is plants (and the relatively infinitely more complex set of ‘biochemistries’ inherent within them) that cure cancer, not chemicals.

Join Food Revolution Network

By entering your information here, you are agreeing to receive messages from Food Revolution Network. Your email address will NEVER be shared or sold. You are always free to easily unsubscribe at any time. For more information see our Privacy Policy.

Stay Connected

If you make a purchase of a product linked from our website, it is possible that our organization may receive a portion of the final purchase price, through an affiliate program. Your price will not be affected by this. We only share resources that we trust and think may be of value. If you have feedback on any resource we share, we'd love to hear about it.

Join Food Revolution Network

By entering your information here, you are agreeing to receive messages from Food Revolution Network. Your email address will NEVER be shared or sold. You are always free to easily unsubscribe at any time. For more information see our Privacy Policy.

By entering your information here, you are agreeing to receive messages from Food Revolution Network. Your email address will NEVER be shared or sold. You are always free to easily unsubscribe at any time. For more information see our Privacy Policy.

You will receive up to one SMS message per week containing important updates. Standard text message rates apply. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying to a text with the word “Stop”.